Living Green

There’s a big flap over nappies (translation-diapers) in Britain these days. Apparently the British government spent the £50,000 to determine whether cloth diapers or plastic disposable diapers are worse for the environment. And then, according to news reports, it didn’t like what it found.

The Times online reports: “The report found that using washable nappies, hailed by councils throughout Britain as a key way of saving the planet, have a higher carbon footprint than their disposable equivalents unless parents adopt an extreme approach to laundering them.”

“To reduce the impact of cloth nappies on climate change parents would have to hang wet nappies out to dry all year round, keep them for years for use on younger children, and make sure the water in their washing machines does not exceed 60C.”

“The conclusions will upset proponents of real nappies who have claimed they can help save the planet.” “Restricted Whitehall documents, seen by The Sunday Times, show that the government is so concerned by the ‘negative laundry options’ outlined in the report, it has told its media managers not to give its conclusions any publicity.”

Actually - cotton is usually one of the most economical crops grown in the US. It really doesn't require much more in the way of water than the southeast gets annually, and it requires *minimal* pesticides because past its tender shoot stage most bugs just aren't that interested in it.

Most of the reports that say cotton requires all that extra care were skewed by focusing on data from countries that take environmentally unsound steps to grow it in areas that don't naturally support it.

I'm using cloth diapers on my second baby and believe that they are much better for the environment. I wonder how many people who object to the use of cotton diapers because of its high water and pesticide usage are really buying organic cotton t-shirts, sheets, underwear, socks, towels . . . Come on folks!

I've used both cloth and disposables and poop flies out of the the disposables all the freaking time. I guess I should throw my kids' clothes out because its so "unsanitary".

Honestly, cloth diapering was really easy when I just had one in diapers. I don't do it full time now with two in diapers. One advantage is that its so much cheaper in the long run.

As for the impact of cotton, your argument assumes that we are using conventional cotton. I have a number of organically grown unbleached cotton diapers as well as some organic unbleached hemp diapers. I have several kinds of fancy diapers that make things really easy, but I also have some old fashioned Chinese prefolds which are not only great for diapering, but can be reused long after baby is grown for cleaning cloths and soaking up spills (they're so absorbant).

Honestly I'm kind of annoyed at this whole post. How green is it to put feces in the washer? Give me a break. Its going into the sewer to be treated like it should be. How green is it to put feces in the landfill? That's the question you ought to be asking.

My energy star washer has an extra sanitary cycle which heats up the water hot enough to kill just about anything with an internal water heater. But even when I didn't have such a fancy washer, my children survived without getting any strange diseases from their diapers.

I'm a first time to-be-mom and found gDiapers to be the most appealing for my lifestyle and the planet. I like the idea of being able to compost the insert, and the flexibility to either flush or toss without having to worry about it sticking in a landfill for 500+ years. I've thought about Fuzzi Bunz for their one-sizeness but haven't embraced the idea of dealing with baby-pooped by-product.

The closest I'll get to a disposable is a 7th Gen, which seems to be the lesser of evils in the disposable world.

Disposable are better for the child and (if you care about such things) have a smaller carbon footprint than cloth diapers. The manufacturing process is much more efficient and less resources are used in the entire life cycle of a child's years in diapers with disposable vs. cloth. No true "believer" would suggest cloth over disposable. However, cloth diapers are excellent for washing your car and dusting your furniture.

http://www.doodlebuckets.com/store/cloth-diapers-c-16.html You still have to deal with throwaways with the g-diapers. Better to go the cloth route, in my opinion.

Oops, I misread. I see you were asking about contaminating the washing machine itself. Studies have shown that rinsed cloth diapers don't pose any higher risk in a hot water washing machine than normal underwear or other children's clothing. (No matter what diapering method you use, there is often...ahem..spillover.)

I have used both cloth and disposable on my babies. The eco-diapers sound great.

To correct one misconception, though: the "toxins" from diaper laundry water are no different from the "toxins" you leave in the toilet. (Ha!) In fact, most cloth diapering parents flush any solids down the toilet before laundering diapers. Both washing machine and toilet wastewater go into our city's sewage system and are treated accordingly.

Parents who use cloth diapers rarely use chlorine bleach because it breaks down the cotton fibers too much. Using safer non-chlorine bleaches and/or line drying in the sun has a good--but less toxic--result. Also, passing down the diapers from one baby to the next helps mitigate some of the manufacturing and growing concerns of cotton.